R.I. Governor McKee says he apologized to developer insulted by official’s racist, sexist remarks

“Due process can be slow, but it has a purpose,” McKee said at a news conference in the State House. “And due process is for everyone. Whether you like them or you don’t.”

The Philadelphia trip debacle has consumed national headlines and gubernatorial attention in the past few weeks. On March 10, the then-Director of Administration James Thorsen and Director of Capital Asset Management David Patten went to Philadelphia to meet with Scout Ltd., a company that was seeking state funds to redevelop the Cranston Street Armory in Providence.

Scout was so aghast at the conduct of Patten and Thorsen that two of its executives wrote an e-mail to their Rhode Island lobbyist outlining their concerns two days later. Patten was accused of making sexist and racist remarks, and dangling the prospect of $55 million in state funds while he requested a six pack of Diet Coke and the best croissant in Philadelphia. Thorsen allowed Patten’s behavior to continue, and both men asked questions about people who are homeless in insensitive ways, the executives wrote. Some incidents have quickly entered the modern Rhode Island political lexicon, like Patten’s alleged insistence on taking something home with him at nearly every visit to a tenant of the Scout-owned Bok building, including vegan cheese and a pair of sneakers.

“At each instance of taking something he turned to Thorsen and said something to the extent of ‘I don’t have to declare this right?’ ” in which Thorsen replied ‘It’s de minimis,’” the Scout executives wrote.

The lobbyist sent the e-mail to McKee’s office, but the administration didn’t release it until Attorney General Peter Neronha sided with media outlets last week in an open records dispute.

Patten resigned from his state role at McKee’s request on Thursday, cutting short a human resources investigation. Thorsen had already left his state job to return to the US Treasury, and has defended his own conduct in a statement.

On Friday, McKee provided a timeline of what happened, saying he had been constrained from releasing more details until Friday because of the procedures the state had to follow.

Meanwhile, new documents are emerging about an incident just a day before the Philadelphia trip. In a memo in the possession of the Department of Administration, two people whose names are redacted made a series of allegations about Patten’s conduct at a gathering at Ladder 133, a Providence sports bar. The memo alleged Patten made homophobic remarks, shared inappropriate personal information, and asked inappropriate questions. The senders, who appear to be fellow state employees, said that they hadn’t met Patten before, and that might not be how he normally behaves, but acknowledged he “may be going through something.”

The alleged incident at Ladder 133 took place on March 9. The memo describing it was timestamped just before 5 p.m. on March 10 — the day of the now infamous Philadelphia trip.

Patten’s attorney, Michael Lynch, said in an e-mail Friday that based on media reports about the memo, the “erratic” conduct wasn’t the way Patten usually conducted himself. And, Lynch noted, the senders themselves suggest that Patten might be going through something.

“Any such referenced conduct was certainly part of the effects of the diagnosed acute stress event that carried over to the following day and for which Mr. Patten ultimately sought and received the care needed to address this health related matter,” Lynch said in an e-mail.

Patten himself also issued an apology through Lynch. His resignation is effective June 30.

Patten has been out of work in the wake of the Philadelphia incident. Shortly after returning from that trip, he went out on Family Medical Leave, which provided protections against any potential termination, McKee said Friday. In late May, Patten’s doctor cleared him to return to work, but the state put him on paid administrative leave — the only option available at the time, McKee said. On Thursday, Patten answered McKee’s call for his resignation, McKee said.

Also, in the midst of the HR investigation, McKee on March 14 called Lindsey Scannapieco, a top official at Scout, to offer an apology for the behavior that had been reported, McKee said.

Meanwhile, a state police investigation is still ongoing, McKee said.

McKee said he’d crossed paths with Patten before, and there were no indications that he was anything other than professional.

But warning signs were there, hidden away in a public record that is only now just emerging. In October 2017, Patten, then working at the Community College of Rhode Island, signed a legal agreement marking the end of his employment there. The memorandum didn’t get into details besides saying that there were differences in strategy about accomplishing change at CCRI, but it also included a nondisparagement clause.

McKee said he personally was not aware of the circumstances of Patten’s departure from CCRI, and acknowledged that his administration’s vetting of Patten could potentially have been better. But even when the state eventually did learn about it during its latest investigation, it was initially told the document was “sealed,” McKee said.

Besides the Philadelphia, CCRI and Ladder 133 incidents, are there more shoes to drop?

“We’re not aware of any,” McKee said.

In the meantime, questions also remain about the future of the empty Cranston Street Armory. McKee and his administration have stressed that his budget proposal never had money to fully redevelop the Armory, even before the Philly trip debacle, an attempt to head off any suggestion that funding was pulled in some sort of retaliation against Scout.

“As much as we want to do something with the property, we also have a fiduciary responsibility to the taxpayers to make sure that whatever project we engage in is in the best interest of the state and as well as the best interest of the neighborhood,” McKee said.

Brian Amaral can be reached at brian.amaral@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @bamaral44.